


Applied Haircut Symbolism

by growntiredofthisbody



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Cute, Established Relationship, Haircuts, M/M, a haircut is something that can actually be so personal........
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25798921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/growntiredofthisbody/pseuds/growntiredofthisbody
Summary: Troy comes back with a bag on his arm, and a pair of scissors in each hand. His hands retreat into their sleeves, leaving the scissors exposed. “Check it out,” he says, opening and closing the scissors. “I’m Edward Scissorhands.”“You’d make a good Edward,” Abed tells him. “You’re uncommonly gentle too.”“Yeah, I am,” Troy agrees, accidentally cutting his sleeve open. “Oops.”-Troy gives Abed a haircut.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 32
Kudos: 179





	Applied Haircut Symbolism

**Author's Note:**

> you know the drill by now. i post trobed and you read it

“Hmmm.”

That’s the third oddly-conspicuous humming sound that Abed’s made in as many minutes. Troy’s starting to think that something might be up.

The sound’s coming from the bathroom. A quick look in that direction reveals that the door is open, and Abed stands at the sink, staring into the mirror.

Troy puts his giant bowl of popcorn down on the table, and stands up. _I’ll be back for you soon,_ he silently pledges, then walks to the bathroom.

“What’s up?” Abed doesn’t react to the greeting, still intently focused on his own reflection. Maybe he’s fallen in love with himself, like that Ancient Greek guy, or Jeff. It’s cool for Abed to love himself, Troy thinks, but what if himself gets jealous? Will Troy and Abed be able to share Abed? Or will Abed eventually leave him for… him?

It’s a little too much to think about at once, and by the time Abed turns around and acknowledges him, his brain’s already half-melted. “Hey, Troy. I’m trying to make an important decision. Come over here.”

Getting his thoughts back in order, and less weirdly jealous, Troy joins him in front of the mirror. Next to Reflection-Abed, there’s Reflection-Troy. He’s on pretty good terms with Reflection-Troy, except for that one time he and Abed simulated getting attacked and replaced by their evil reflections. He smiles, and Reflection-Troy smiles back, so it doesn’t seem like there’s any hard feelings. “So what’s the decision?”

“This.” Abed pulls at a lock of his hair, stretching it out to its full length. It’s long enough that it’s starting to get a little curly, which doesn’t look bad at all. “If someone’s hairstyle changes, it means they’re changing in a similar way. But what do these mean?” He grabs an entire handful of curls. “Am I becoming more serious and career-driven? Sensitive and emotional? Or does it mark the beginning of a downward spiral that leads to me living in a cave and dispensing gruff wisdom to groups of adventuring children?”

“Hey, don’t go live in a cave.” Troy places both his hands on Abed’s shoulders. “Can’t you just get it cut? What do you usually do when it gets like that?”

“I go to Michelle’s Magnificent Palace of Hair and Beauty,” he quickly answers. “Or I did, until the Health Department shut them down last month. They made their own shampoo, and apparently it had a few untested ingredients. But that was the only place I could afford without cutting into the costume budget.”

Troy nods, because their adventures just wouldn’t be the same without costumes. “Maybe I could do it,” he suggests. “I took that class, remember?” And he would have been at the top of it, if not for Jeff… but he’s done being bitter about that, especially if he gets the chance to put his skills to use in this way.

Abed still only looks at the mirror, but from what Troy can see, he’s seriously considering it. “I know you could do it… but haircuts can be just as character-defining. I could lose my whole identity if we’re not careful.”

He’s starting to look worried, so Troy massages his shoulders, hands moving slowly. “Then we’ll be careful. I won’t use a sword, and we won’t put any meaningful music on in the background. It’ll be a normal kind of haircut that people get every day. That sound cool?”

After another moment of thought, Abed turns around, expression blank- in the relaxed way, as Troy’s come to recognise. “Yeah, sounds cool.”

* * *

Abed sits and waits patiently, towel draped around his neck. Troy set him up here in the bathroom, then left for a moment to get his haircutting kit. It’s a good thing that the class let him keep it, even if that was only because it turned out that the salon had, in the dean’s words, “a teensy-weensy, practically solved, incredibly minor asbestos issue”.

Troy comes back with a bag on his arm, and a pair of scissors in each hand. His hands retreat into their sleeves, leaving the scissors exposed. “Check it out,” he says, opening and closing the scissors. “I’m Edward Scissorhands.”

“You’d make a good Edward,” Abed tells him. “You’re uncommonly gentle too.”

“Yeah, I am,” Troy agrees, accidentally cutting his sleeve open. “Oops.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Not worrying about it sounds like a good idea, and it’s what Troy was going to do anyway, so he takes that advice. Instead, he puts one of the pairs of scissors back into the bag, and takes out a small comb. It’s light blue, with “PROPERTY OF TROY BARNES!!!!!” scrawled across it in thick black marker. A few of his hairstyling classmates hadn’t been great at picking up on subtle hints.

“Gotta comb it before I start cutting,” he tells Abed. Sometimes it makes him nervous when he feels things and doesn’t know why, and Troy wants him to be as calm as possible. He takes a small section of hair and test-runs the comb through it, giving himself plenty of time to admire its softness and wonder if there’s a name for its exact shade of deep brown. He hopes it’s named after something amazing, though he’s struggling to come up with anything worthy of Abed.

The test run seems fine, so he moves on to the real thing. Starting at the back, he takes one small section at a time, always making sure that Abed’s fine with it and they’re not accidentally re-enacting anything. Once he’s combed a section out, he brings in the scissors, carefully cutting it to a more manageable length.

It’s long and boring work, or as boring as anything with Abed can possibly be, and Troy’s hands quickly start itching with the desire to do something else. The Dreamatorium would be fun, but if they pause the haircut halfway through, it’ll be a lot harder to make it look nice. In between all the combing and cutting, he finds himself playing little games that involve, for one reason or another, caressing Abed’s hair or massaging the more sensitive parts of his scalp.

When he’s nearly done, it occurs to him that he’s just being affectionate, and the games are really only a means to that end. It’s a little scary that he can express his feelings without even trying- but kind of awesome, too. This way, even if he somehow forgets to say it, Abed won’t ever forget he loves him.

Troy’s especially careful with the hair near Abed’s ears, or any place where the trimmings might fall onto his face. Whether it’s because of that care, or just pure luck, nothing goes wrong. He cuts the last section, and steps back to take a look.

It’s a little uneven in a few places, but none of that takes long to fix, and it gives him some more time to rub Abed’s temples in the way he likes. Which makes Troy think, he hasn’t really spoken since they started. “You all right, man?”

“I’m fine,” he responds right away. “If I’ve been quiet, it’s probably just because I didn’t want to distract you. Also, I was writing a movie that’s about us.”

“Awesome,” Troy says, imagining themselves as the hot, rugged protagonists of some super-cool sci-fi adventure. Would they be together from the start, or would there be some kind of rivals-to-lovers plot? If they were the captains of different spaceships, they could race them across the galaxy, and… He’s getting off track. “What happens in it?”

“That’s a surprise. You’ll find out on Christmas.” Abed almost turns around, but catches himself at the last second. “Are you done?”

“Almost.” He runs the comb through one last time, then turns the chair towards the mirror. “What do you think?”

Abed takes a moment to consider it, expression unreadable. “Troy…” He pulls off the towel, dramatically casting it to the floor. “I think this was a symbolically significant haircut after all. I should have known we couldn’t avoid it.”

“Oh no…” Troy’s already running through the possibilities. A little change in personality shouldn’t matter, right? He’ll still be Abed, and that’s who Troy fell in love with. Everything should be fine as long as he doesn’t run away and join the army, because then Troy would have to follow him, and he doesn’t like guns (unless they shoot paint, water, or marshmallows) or waking up early. He picks the scissors back up. “Should I try again?”

He’s approaching with the scissors when Abed raises a hand in a stopping gesture. “I was afraid because I thought having a life-changing realisation would lead to us growing apart. But the only thing I realised is that there’s nothing I can’t trust you with.” He glances at the mirror again. “Also, this is the best haircut I’ve ever had.”

Troy just looks at him, because he kind of wants to laugh, and also cry, and also kiss him, and his thoughts are tangling around his emotions and his emotions are tangling back around his thoughts and it’s all one big mess. “That’s just your regular haircut,” he quietly points out.

“I know.”

Then Abed kisses him, and the mess in his brain untangles itself into the shape of a heart. That’s how he likes to imagine it, anyway.

* * *

“So what are we doing? I don’t think Annie’s getting back until late,” Abed says once they’ve cleaned up. Hair has a way of getting absolutely everywhere, so they make a game out of who can gather up the most. Troy wins, which means he gets to decide what they do next.

“Well, there’s all that popcorn I didn’t get to finish…” Troy taps his chin and looks up, like a statue of a guy that’s thinking really hard. “Alien movies?”

Abed nods, knowing exactly what he means. They’ve built up an impressive collection of old movies featuring alien abductions. Abed likes them because of their unashamed B-movie charm, Troy likes them because someone’s butt always gets probed, and they both like them because they’re so predictable that it’s completely fine to miss half of them and make out instead. “Let’s go.”

They’re a little too hasty in leaving the bathroom, and the door slams behind them. Not a problem, until the popcorn bowl- placed a little too close to the edge of the table- wobbles and falls, spilling its contents everywhere.

For a moment, they just stare at it. Then, in unison, they raise a pointer finger and shout “Round two!”, then scramble for all the popcorn they can pick up.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for continuing to read what i post <3


End file.
